#539 Herm Starrette - Baltimore Orioles

Herman Paul Starrette
Baltimore Orioles
Pitcher

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'0"  Weight:  175
Born:  November 20, 1936, Statesville, NC
Signed:  Signed by the Baltimore Orioles as an amateur free agent, June 13, 1958
Major League Teams:  Baltimore Orioles 1963-1965
Died:  June 2, 2017, Statesville, NC (age 80)

Herm Starrette pitched for nine seasons in the Orioles' system between 1958 and 1966, getting a call to the majors three different times between 1963 and 1965.  He was a 17 game winner in 1959 with the Class C Aberdeen Pheasants in the Northern League.  His longest stint with the Orioles was his first one, when Starrette appeared in 18 games for the club between July and September 1963.  He'd get recalled briefly in 1964 for five games and again in 1965 for four games.  In 27 big league games, all in relief, Starrette was 1-1 with a 2.54 ERA and one save in 46 innings pitched.

1980 Phillies Photocards

His true calling was as a pitching coach, and Starrette began a coaching career in 1967 that would last 35 years.  At the big league level, Starrette was the pitching or bullpen coach for the Braves (1974-1976), Giants (1977-1978; 1983-1984), Phillies (1979-1981), Brewers (1985-1986), Cubs (1987), Orioles (1988) and Red Sox (1995-1997).  He also served with various organizations as a minor league instructor.

Building the Set
December 4, 2021 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards, Babylon, NY) - Card #469
You'll be seeing this particular passage on my 1965 Topps blog for quite some time as we added a whopping 97 cards to our set during the December Philadelphia Sports Collectors Show.  If I'm ambitious and compose posts for five cards a week, I should be completely caught up by the end of May.  If I'm not as ambitious, I might still be going through this stack by the time we hit July.  Either way, I'll enjoy the process and I'm looking forward to taking my time.  I've posted a complete summary of this fantastic show over at The Phillies Room.

After securing Doug's Jim Thome autograph, I returned to Uncle Dick's and their neon green shirts, pulled up a chair, and settled in.  Over the course of 45 minutes or so, I found 79 cards needed for our set, including this Starrette card which was less than $4 after the dealer discount.  I was surrounded by six or seven other seated collectors, all who looked similar to me, with a touch of gray, focused on their individual quests.  I wiped out Uncle Dick's two 1965 Topps commons binders, paid for my haul and then retreated to a table with Doug to update our checklist.

The Card / Orioles Team Set
Starrette appears in the 1964 and 1965 Topps cards as a player, and then one more time in the 1974 Topps set as a Braves coach on the Eddie Mathews (#500) card.  His uniform #24 is partially visible on the front of his Orioles jersey here.  By the time this card was issued, Starrette had pitched in his final major league game on May 10th, as his option to the minors on May 11th is noted on the back.  The reference to Syracuse is an uncorrected error, as the Syracuse Chiefs were the Triple-A team of the Tigers in 1965.  Topps reprinted the card in 2014 with Starrette signing copies for the 2014 Topps Heritage Real One Autographs insert set.

1965 Season
Starrette's final big league action came early in the season when he appeared in four games for the Orioles in April and early May.  He had no record with a 1.00 ERA in nine innings pitched, so it's somewhat surprising the Orioles couldn't find a use for his services.  He spent the bulk of the season pitching once again for the Rochester Red Wings, not Syracuse, and he was 3-3 with a 2.88 ERA in 44 relief appearances.

Phillies Career
Starrette began his three-year stint as the Phillies pitching coach in 1979, taking over for the departed Ray Rippelmeyer who had held that position since 1970.  He was the team's pitching coach in 1980 when they won the first World Series title in franchise history, and he departed following the 1981 season following the ouster of manager Dallas Green (#203).  

He has a black and white photo card in the 1979, 1980 and 1981 team-issued sets and he always struck me as one of the team's happier coaches given he never seemed to be photographed without a smile.

1964 Topps #239

1974 Topps #634

2014 Topps Heritage Real One Autographs #ROA-HS

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1964 Topps #239
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (3):  1964-1965, 1974
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2014 Topps Heritage Real One Autographs #ROA-HS

22 - Starrette non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 3/3/22.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
The Trading Card Database

Wikipedia

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